A December Dream
by Akira of the Twilight
Summary: [AU]Kai hates December, but he hates being called Scrooge more. Rei is putting dust in people’s food, and Max has joined a cult? And Tyson is… oh dear lord. Death is going to have a field day with this.
1. Smart Mouth

Summary: Kai hates December, but he hates being called Scrooge more. Rei is putting dust in people's food, and Max has joined a cult? And Tyson is… oh dear lord.

Pairing: None

Warning: Swearing

Chapter 1

It was that annoying time of the year. The time when everyone smiles and laughs, while spending their money on people they rather not waste it on. The time in which three holidays take place. How stupid is that? Three holidays? Can't they just choose one and stick with it? So what if two of them have to do with religion, and the other is meant for a certain culture. Why add on to the annoyance?

This is what Kai Hiwatari thought, every December. While most people spent their times thinking about holiday cheer and crap, he didn't, or at least not in the way others did. He did not enjoy the laughter, the lights, the joy, and all the other things that went along with the month.

To add on to his grievance, others referred to him as "Grinch" or "Scrooge" during this time. If the morons wanted him to be more cheerful they should realize calling him names wasn't going to help.

He wouldn't have minded the snow if little children weren't constantly running around in it screaming. If he could, he would call the police on them, but alas, the police would only laugh and say the children were having harmless fun.

Harmless? That made Kai laugh, and not in that happy kind of laugh, no, it was that disbelieving, you're an idiot, kind of laugh. You call kids running around on ice, falling down and crashing into people harmless? It was anything but that!

The thought of children crashing into him, made him hunch his shoulders, and glare at the children playing nearby as he walked home. It made him look intimidating, for now his mouth and nose were covered by his gray scarf, causing his crimson eyes to stand out on his pale face. His black trench coat added on to his dark and sinister attire.

He spent the entire walk home glaring, even though the children never looked in his general direction, he did it anyway. He would not risk them trying to pull a fast one on him, for he knew that while others saw children as little angels, they were really little devils, repeating whatever they heard, and complaining about everything, and all the while not using the bathroom before leaving, making it so you'd have to stop somewhere before reaching your destination.

Speaking of destination, Kai had reached his. His home was a two-story house, shocking to those that knew he had a lot of inheritance money, but not so shocking once you realized he was a young teen living on his own. To him a two-story house was more than enough space, until he would turn eighteen and could access his inheritance.

Kai placed his key in the keyhole, and turned it, receiving a click sound. With the door unlock he pulled out the key and tried to grab the doorknob, but was stopped by something unusual.

The doorknob, which Kai was sure was normally smooth and blank, had a face on it. It reminded Kai of one of the guys that used to work with his grandfather, but he couldn't remember the name.

Oh well! No use crying over spilt milk! Kai grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open, before slamming it shut.

"Ow! What the Hell was that!" A voice cried out in pain. Once again Kai found himself thinking about one of the guys who worked for his grandfather. Now what was his name again? Sala? Tabby? Tyra? Tally?

"Screw it," Kai proclaimed and threw himself onto his red plush couch. Like he was going to waste his time with the past.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR GOD FORSAKEN PROBLEM!"

Lifting his head up, Kai saw a faded version of the very guy whose name he was trying to remember, scowling at him. What was stuck up his ass?

"ANSWER ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

"Hn."

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Kai smirked, "I don't remember my mother being a female dog."

"SMARTASS!"

"Thank you. Now get out of my house."

"Do you even remember who I am?"

"Nope."

The guy crumbled to the ground, holding his head in his hands. Because of the guy's new position, Kai had to turn around on the couch and look over the back of his seat, how troublesome.

"My name's Tala," The faded male growled, trying to contain his temper. "I died last year in a car accident."

Kai paused, and thought the new information over in his head. He did recall going to a funeral last year, but he couldn't remember for whom. He did remember how boring it had been, and cheap too. "You're funeral sucked."

"Forget the damn funeral!" Tala jumped up from his spot on the ground and floated onto the couch. Guess that proved it. If the guy could float he had to be a ghost, right? Or maybe he had some strings attached to him?

Kai eyed the area around Tala, but found no signs of strings. Damn. Now he'd have to call a bunch of so-called "Exorcists" until he found a real one. Great, what a waste of money.

"Listen Punk," Tala poked Kai in the chest, this made Kai raise an eyebrow, since the last time he checked ghosts couldn't touch people, but he shrugged it off. "I came here to warn you that you are a bastard, a jackass, an asshole, a creep, and bunch of other things that I won't say because I have a schedule to keep! Because of all the shit you've done, you're going to end up like me, a ghost, forever bound to the earth, unless you become a good person and do good deeds and yaddy yadda ya. Got it?"

"And I should believe you because?"

Tala growled, but didn't do anything. "I'm a ghost damn it! I know everything!"

"I thought only Kami were supposed to know everything?"

"Learn you're Japanese better! Kami not only means god in Japanese but spirit as well!"

"I heard it can also means hair or paper."

"Argh!" Tala threw his heads up in the air, and held back the scream of frustration that was tearing him apart inside. He could have spent his day with the other ghosts, but _no_. He had to warn Kai, because him and the other ghost didn't want Kai around after Kai would die. Yes it's true, the ghosts hated Kai. That's just how much of a bastard he was.

"Listen," Tala spat through his clenched teeth. "You will be visited by three spirits. The first one will visit you tomorrow at one."

"Wouldn't you technically be the first spirit?"

"Shut it," Tala said warningly before continuing. "The next spirit will come the following night at the same time. The final spirit will visit you the night after that at midnight."

"Why does the third spirit get to come early? What makes it so special?"

"Don't mock the spirits that are going to save your soul!" Tala shouted, before recollecting himself, and saying as calmly as he could, "Do you understand?"

Kai nodded, but his smirk was still painted across his face. "Yes, but tell the spirits I expect each of them to give me something. After all, a good guest always brings a gift."

"YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!"

That was the last thing Tala yelled before disappearing into a cloud of fog.

Shrugging, Kai turned around in his seat while muttering, "If he had left when I told him I wouldn't have had to be a smart-aleck."


	2. A Pointless Past

Chapter 2

A Pointless Past

_Damn clock is broken again,_ Kai thought as he gave the clock on his nightstand his famous glare of doom.

He hadn't fallen asleep until two 'o clock, and now the clock read midnight. Either someone broke into his house, and was playing a lame prank on him, or the clock was broken and running backwards.

Now before you decide to ruin Kai's reputation by saying he stayed up till two in the morning, because he was scared about the ghosts coming to visit him, you're wrong. Kai is a high school student who takes every advanced course his school has to offer, in other words, he has a mountain of homework everyday that can take up to seven hours at least.

Throwing the blankets off, he stretched and moved lazily toward the door, opened it, and left the room. He was suddenly very thirsty, so he headed toward the kitchen. Once there he grabbed a glass out from one of the many wooden cupboards, and placing it under the sink nozzle, poured himself a glass of water, before drinking it greedily.

"I went to you're room, and you weren't there."

Unlike most people who would freak out at hearing another voice, when supposedly they are alone, Kai turned around calmly and stared at the blue-eyed blond. The blond looked very childish with his overly bright and unmatching green and orange outfit. The pout he was wearing at the moment didn't help either.

Kai raised an eyebrow at the teen, or pre-teen, for if weren't for the blonde's height, he would've thought him to be a child. He than glanced at his wristwatch.

_1:00_

Kai stared at his wristwatch before promptly deciding that his wristwatch was a broken piece shit like the clock in his room.

"Didn't Tala tell you I was coming?" The ghost asked worriedly.

"Yeah, but I'm guessing he forgot to tell you to bring a gift."

"Huh?" The childlike ghost tilted his head to the side.

"Never mind."

Nodding his head, the frown that had been on the ghost's lips was replaced with a smile that made Kai want to smack the blonde's face into the ground until it disappeared. Maybe Kai's counselor was right about him needing anger management classes?

"My name's Max," the ghost introduced itself, "and I'm the ghost of December past. So are you ready to see your December past?"

"If it's the past doesn't that mean I have already seen it, so I shouldn't I not have to see it again?" Kai asked, trying to avoid spending another second with Max. The boy was too hyper. Weren't ghosts supposed to sullen and vengeful?

Max laughed, not realizing Kai was serious. "Sorry, but you have to watch your December past."

"Are you going to be there with me?"

"Of course!"

"But then it's not my past, because the last time I checked, nowhere in my past was there a December past," Kai reasoned. "Also if you had been there, it would be the present during that time, and since you're a ghost of the past, you wouldn't be there even though supposedly you are."

Max narrowed his eyes at Kai. "First off, I have no idea what you're saying, but either way you're going to watch your past and you'll like it!"

"Not if you're there," Kai mumbled under his breath.

"Now let's go!" Max proclaimed, grabbing Kai by the wrist and dragging the boy to the window, but before they reached it, Kai pulled out of Max's hold.

"I'm not jumping out of a window! For all I know, you're part of strange cult that likes to act out A Christmas Carol, which means we'll both die when we jump out of the window."

"We weren't going to jump out of it," Max stated, a tint of bitterness in his voice. "We were going to phase through the wall and fly."

"So says the insane guy."

Giving a sigh of frustration, Max snapped his fingers, and the kitchen transformed into Kai's living room. The room was dark with the only light coming from the fire burning in the fireplace. Across from the blaze was a small red couch made for two, maybe three if the third member were a child. On the couch lay six-year-old Kai reading a book.

"I hope you're happy," Max griped, crossing his arms over his chest in the process. "Instead of making you visit the past, you're now having a flashback."

"What's the difference?"

"A flashback requires no bodily movement."

"So why are we visiting me when I'm, what? Six? Seven? Years old?"

Max studied the scene before them, and gave a puzzled frown. Pulling a notepad out of his pocket, he thumbed threw the pages, and stopped when he came to the page he had been searching for.

As he read, he let out a hum of approval. He looked up at Kai and smiled innocently, "It turned out you were happy this one December day, so it was on our visitation list, but other than you being happy there's nothing else here to see."

Kai could slap the blond, but resisted. If this was indeed the ghost of December past, then Max had access to some excellent blackmail on Kai. "So we came here for nothing?"

"Yup! You were only happy because you were alone, and that won't teach you a lesson now will it?" Max didn't let Kai answer, instead answering his own question. "Nope. It'd only reinforce the part of you that says you can be happy by being a jackass to everyone else."

Rolling his eyes heavenward, Kai tapped his foot impatiently, waiting expectantly for Max to get on with the next flashback.

With another snap, the scene changed once again. This time the scene showed a fourteen-year-old Kai with a shorter tan teen with blue shoulder length hair standing at a cash register. The two of them were staring off into space, though if you looked closely you'd notice how their eyes were aimed at the clock hanging on the wall.

"It's snowing outside," The blue haired male said in a monotone voice.

The past Kai nodded his head.

"It's snowing outside. Bet it's really cold."

Past Kai grunted, and gave the other teen a look that said "You're a dumb ass if you just figured that out."

"My brother is coming to pick me up after work. Want a ride?"

"Fine."

Meanwhile, as the scene unfolded, the present Kai was getting a headache. His headache was either caused by the stupidity of this flashback, or that damnable smile of Max's.

"So did you learn anything?" Max asked hopefully. His eyes shinned with excitement as he waited to hear Kai's answer, obviously expecting to hear something good, the poor fool.

"No."

"_No?_" Max asked, looking crestfallen.

"No."

"_No?_"

"NO! Now get on with the next flashback!"

"Alright! Alright!" Max held his hands in front of himself in a surrendering position, showing he meant no harm, not that Kai cared. As far as Kai was concerned, someone needed shoot Max.

There was a snap, and like the other two times the scene changed. The Kai in this flashback wasn't much older than the pervious one, and he was standing in what he recognized to be his high school's hallway. In front of him was a girl around his name with tears in her eyes.

"We're through Kai," She sobbed.

Past Kai had the decency to look baffled.

"I'm sorry, but you're such a cold hearted person!" She shouted and ran away crying.

The past Kai stared after her as if she were crazy.

The present Kai however was about to kill someone. "What the hell was that!" He screamed at Max, who looked at him in confusion.

"I was told to show you that scene so you would see what happens when you act like a jerk," Max explained.

"First off, I never dated that girl! In fact she was a stalker of mine! Her so called 'breaking up' with me thing, was really her finding out that I had a restraining order on her!"

Max's jaw dropped in shock. Why hadn't any told him that? That just made this flashback completely pointless!

Kai wasn't done though. "Secondly, if she had been my girlfriend, how would remembering that my girlfriend dumped me in December help me like December!"

Max smiled sheepishly, while taking two steps backward. "You know what? I think you need some time to yourself." With that, Max snapped his fingers and Kai was back in the kitchen by himself.

Huffing, Kai put the cup he had been drinking water from previously in the sink. "Coward. At least Tala was willing to argue."

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.

Some of the flashbacks are random, but if you do know the story "A Christmas Carol", then you'll understand where they come from. In fact the second flashback is a combination of two of them, but more weird.

Thank you everyone who is reading this.


	3. A Useless Present

Chapter 3

A Useless Present

Kai frowned as he stared at the clock. It was one 'o clock and the second spirit was supposed to have visited him by now. First, Max was late by an hour, and his clocks were broken, but now he had another late spirit.

Frustrated and tired of waiting, he left his spot from the living room couch, and walked up the stairs towards his bedroom. And to think he stayed up late on a school night for that bloody spirit, never again would he wait for a spirit, it was clear they all had a bad concept of time.

Opening the door to his room, he felt his eye twitch at the sight.

Snow covered his walls and floor, and icicles hung from his ceiling. He couldn't even see what once made up his room because of how much snow filled the place, even his desk and bed were covered. Speaking of his bed, a snowman was standing by it with a smile made of coal, and a black top hat on his head.

Someone was going to die, and right now that snowman was the only thing that remotely looked like a person, so it would have to do. He walked up to it and punched it smack in the face, knocking its head clean off. He then proceeded to kick it, throwing in a punch every now and then, until all that was left was a deformed pile of frozen water in its place.

"I guess that means you don't like your new room?"

Kai turned on the owner of the voice, giving them the nastiest look he possessed.

The owner of the voice was unaffected, and shrugged off the look. He looked like a person who you could throw insults at, and he wouldn't burst out in a fit, in other words calm and knowing. Maybe it was the cat like features that made him appear that way, or his golden, all knowing eyes. It didn't matter to Kai. In the end he would get revenge on this person who decided to redecorate his room.

"I am Rei," the person spoke, his voice only helping his image of calmness. "I am the spirit of December Present."

"Hn."

"I'm here to help you change your ways," Rei tried again, assuming that Kai must not understand the situation if he was acting as if nothing strange had happened.

"Hn."

"I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

"Hn."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"You're really stubborn aren't you?" Rei asked.

"Yup."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Okay…" Rei started, deciding he'd just have to take charge of the situation. He held out his hand to Kai. "Take my hand and I'll show you your December present."

"Wouldn't December present technically be now?" There was a smug smile on Kai's face as he asked Rei this.

"Yes it is, but my boss says I have to show you what's going to happen later today."

"So you're showing me the future?"

"I don't make the rules, I just follow them," Rei said defensively, still keeping his hand out for Kai. "Now let's get this over with. Obviously, you don't want to do this, and truthfully I got better things to do, so let's make this quick."

"Fine." With that, Kai placed his hand in Rei's, and like with Max, Kai was no longer in his room, but some place else entirely.

He was outside his high school where kids were laughing together, bundled up in warm clothing laughing and joking with each other. He recognized the kids as the crazy people who enjoyed sitting outside during lunch on cold days, such as the one he was experiencing at the moment.

Rei let go of his hand and walked up to a group of kids, and sprinkled something on their food, the kids did not notice.

_So they can't see us_, Kai concluded mentally, while frowning as he watched Rei sprinkle more of that strange stuff on other teenagers' food. The stuff looked to be sparkly dust particles, which made him wonder if Rei was trying to kill the kids with death by dust.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked.

"I do this every year," Rei explained, adding more sparkly dust to people's food. "It makes people more happy."

Kai rolled his eyes. How would dust make someone happy? And an even better question, what was he supposed to learn from this? Throw dust on people's food so they'll like you? Talk about stupid.

"I'm going inside," Kai announced to the spirit.

"Okay," Rei said, rushing to another kid's meal. "Just get me when you're ready to go."

_I'm ready to leave right now moron. _ Kai kept his thought to himself. He figured he could look around a bit, and see what he would need to be prepared for in the morning when he'd be at school.

He walked through the school's halls, glance in each classroom as he went. In every class there was a group of kids hiding out from the snow, laughing, and mingling with other kids they normally didn't talk to. Apparently that old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," was true in this case. Everyone hated the cold, so everyone was willing to be nicer to each other if it meant hiding from the cold. Of course by doing this they allowed themselves to be blackmailed later on by the people that at the moment were their "friend."

"One more day than winter vacation!" One student shouted.

"Can you believe it?"

"It feels like it's been forever!"

"What are you going to do during the break?"

Kai felt his disgust grow as he listened to the idiotic conversations. They were all focused around winter break, and people's plans that were always the same. Either the person would be staying home, or going out of town to visit their family, where they would receive gifts that would later be returned for what they really wanted.

"This pointless."

"So you didn't learn anything?"

Recognizing Rei's voice, Kai turned his head to see two small children hugging each of his legs. Blinking away his confusion Kai asked, "Who the hell are those two brats?"

"Ignorance and Want."

"Oh."

"Yeah…"

"That sucks."

"I know."

"Do you get paid to watch them?" Kai asked sarcastically.

Rei shook his head. "Nope, but at least I have someone to talk to while working."

"Hn."

"My point exactly."

"Can I go home now?" Kai asked.

Rei shrugged. "I don't see why not."

And like a dream, Kai was back in his room, which had returned to normal.

Jumping into his bed, Kai went to sleep, not bothering to think about the events that had just occurred.

X.X.X.X.X.X.


	4. Grave Future

Chapter 4

Grave Future

Something tapped at Kai's shoulder. The dual haired teen grunted and shrugged off the feeling. He knew this had to be the third spirit, but he was busy finishing his essay.

Wasn't winter break supposed to be the one vacation teachers decide not to hand out extra work, because everyone is celebrating one holiday or another? Didn't they realize that all the work they gave over winter break would have to be graded later, and unlike their students, the teachers wouldn't have two weeks off to do so? Talk about not completely thought out.

There was another tap on his shoulder. Couldn't this spirit see he was too busy to care about how he was screwing up his life?

Turning in his computer chair, he glared up at the new spirit, which was dressed as the grim reaper, but there was a slight difference. The black hood draped over the top half of the face, covering the rest in shadow, but Kai could see the tan skin of a person. This grabbed Kai's interest, and he dropped his gaze to the spirit's hands, which were made of flesh and blood.

In all his life, Kai, had hear stories about the grim reaper being a skeleton dressed in a black cloak with a scythe, and while this version did have the cloak and scythe, it was the furthest thing from a skeleton.

"Hn."

"…"

Kai raised an eyebrow at the figure of death. He was waiting for the introduction that usually accompanied the appearance of a spirit, but it did not come.

The spirit lifted its free hand and pointed at Kai.

"Yes?" Kai asked, mockingly. "Are you here to show me the future, or are you one of my annoying fans?"

The grim reaper continued to point.

Kai's eye twitched. He was starting to understand way people said pointing was rude.

Unlike with the other spirits, who when they took Kai to another time, the room didn't change instantly. This spirit made scenery grow from the ground. The floor shook as buildings emerged from Kai's carpet, which had changed to dirt and snow without his noticing. People grew like trees alongside the rows of dead plants and buildings.

"Hn," came Kai's trademark, "If that was supposed to impress me, it didn't."

The spirit didn't comment.

It had stopped pointing at Kai, instead pointing in the direction of a group of people.

Kai frowned and shook his head. "I don't need to hear their conversation. I know what is supposed to happen. They are going to be talking about how they are glad I'm dead, however they will never say my name, because I'm not supposed to find out my future self is dead until you show me my grave."

The grim reaper continued to point.

"You're not going to let this thing go are you?" Kai asked, but like he predicted it would, the grim reaper remained silent and pointing.

Sighing in frustration, he walked up to the group, invisible to their eyes and listened in on their conversation.

"Nice to know the jerk finally died."

"I bet he died at work. He never did stop working."

"One less heartless bastard in the world."

Kai nodded his head at each comment, memorizing the faces that went with them. He'd insure that these people would suffer when he would eventually meet them. No one, whether they be in the future or not, insulted him.

He felt a tapping on his shoulder, but ignored it. He was determined to make the third spirit speak. Ironic. Normally he wanted silence, but this spirit irked him enough that he wanted it to speak just so he could insult it.

Another tap.

A few minutes passed.

Another tap.

Again, a few minutes pass.

Another tap.

He heard rustling behind him, and Kai's curiosity getting the better of him, glanced over his shoulder. He made a very un-Kai like squeak, and ducked as the grim reaper tried to chop off Kai's head with his scythe.

Even though he wasn't part of the world, for was he on some spiritual plane at the moment, he could feel the cold of the snow. The cold added to his fuel as he pushed himself from the ground and stared heatedly at the grim reaper, who he swore was giving him an innocent look, even if Kai couldn't see its face.

"What was that!" Kai screeched indignantly. "You're supposed to help me, not kill me!"

Kai didn't even get a shrug from the figure of death. What he got was a finger pointing in another direction.

Out of the three spirits, so far, he hated the grim reaper the most. It had to have a mental condition with the way it didn't speak, and pointed instead at random things, like a child asking what something is. Did it not understand that Kai knew this was the future where he was dead and no one cared! It was most infuriating.

Then there was the way how it had tried to kill him. Granted, it was the grim reaper so taking souls was part of its job description, but not _his_ soul, at least not yet. Perhaps it had gotten confused and thought Kai was the soul of his future self.

Mentally screaming at the spirit, and imagining himself bashing its head into a table and then drowning it in the ocean, Kai followed the path pointed out to him.

As he walked the empty streets of his hometown, he recognized the older faces of people he had known growing up. They were all smiling and beaming at another. Idiots. That's what they looked like, idiots. Morons, who had yet to realize the horrors of December.

Among the people were two people Kai remembered. They had been friends of Tala, if his memory was working properly. The short blue haired one with a big nose was Ian, and Spencer was the name of the tall, muscle-bound, blonde.

"Hey check out what I stole from Hiwatari's mansion," Ian snickered, holding up a sheet of fine silk.

Kai rolled his eyes heavenward. Out of everything Ian would steal he would choose _that._ He was a moron like the rest of the world. At least there was one upside to this. Kai now knew he had lived long enough to get his inheritance and buy a mansion. Hopefully it was very big, and intimidated people when they walked passed.

"You actually stole _that?"_ Spencer questioned. Obviously Spencer agreed with Kai on the matter. What do you know, Spencer is one of the few intelligent people in the world.

Ian, of course being dimwitted, or at least in Kai's point of view, didn't notice the unimpressed disbelief emitting off of Spencer. So he proudly replied, "Yup."

How Kai would love to throw a rock at Ian's head.

Instead he had that annoying tapping on his shoulder again. Having learned from past experience what would happen if he ignored the spirit, Kai faced the grim reaper, who was once again pointing.

"This had better be my damn grave," Kai mumbled, walking off in his given direction.

The more he walked the further away he was from the city. There weren't any people walking around anymore, and the noise level had dropped drastically.

In a field of grass stood a lone tombstone.

"Finally!" Kai proclaimed. "It's over!"

_Beep. _

What was that?

_Beep. _

He knew that sound, and knowing what the cause of that sound was made his eye start twitching again in annoyance.

He fixed his glare on the grim reaper, who had stopped pointing long enough to roll up its sleeve and look at its wristwatch. It pressed a button and the sound ceased.

The grim reaper threw down its scythe with a sigh, and tossed off its hood.

Kai felt his jaw drop with a gasp. The words left his mouth before he could silence himself. "I know you!"


	5. Lesson Not Learned

Chapter 5

Lesson Not Learned

It was Kai's turn to point, but unlike Kai, the spirit smiled and shrugged it off.

"I would hope you recognize me," The once mysterious grim reaper spoke with cheer. "We did work together a couple of years ago. I was also friends with Tala, _and_ you did attend my funeral."

"Tyson Kinomiya!" Kai growled and stopped pointing at the bluenette. "What the hell are you doing as the grim reaper!"

Tyson shrugged, "It was either this or going to the after life, and from what I saw of the afterlife it is very dull. I much rather be the grim reaper and scare people."

"So wait," Kai began. A person could become the grim reaper if after they died. That did sound like a nice job. Maybe he should apply for it. "How does someone become the grim reaper?"

"You just ask, and they give you a few forms to fill out. If you pass inspection you get the job."

"Really," Kai said thoughtfully. "Can anyone, even someone who was bad in their life, become the grim reaper?"

"Oh yeah," Tyson reassured him with a wave. "It not as hard as you think to be a grim reaper. You just have to know how to get people startled, and be willing to wear a black robe throughout the year."

"Can I sign up now?"

"Oh sure." With that, Tyson stuck his hand in one of the hidden pockets of his robe, and pulled out a silver cell phone. He dialed a number and placed it to his ear waiting for someone to answer.

"Hello?" A voice on the other side of the phone said.

"Hey Chief, I got someone over here who wants to be a grim reaper, can you send me the forms?" Tyson asked.

"Is he dead?"

"Not yet, but you know we're going to have a few grim reapers retiring in a few years, and we will need him then. It will be prefect, don't you think?"

"I guess."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes. Bye."

"Wait Tyson where are-"

Tyson hung up the phone before the person on the other side of the line finished their sentence. A smile adorned his face, and it worried Kai slightly.

"So…" Kai started unsure what to say to his old coworker. "How did you die?"

"Jeez, you come to my funeral, and you can't remember how I died?" Tyson huffed indignantly, and placed his hands on his hips, which vaguely reminded Kai of PMSing teenage girl. "I was in a car crash with Tala, which is why we had our funerals combined, or do not even remember that?"

"I don't pay attention to unimportant things such as funerals," Kai answered smugly.

"Sourpuss."

"Moron."

"May I remind you, I am the embodiment of death?" To add to his statement, Tyson held up his scythe threateningly.

"So what, I'll be that too."

"Not if you keep up that smartass attitude."

There was a glaring contest between the two. Neither one was willing to back down. Yup, just another fight involving male dominance, nothing unusual.

"Tyson," Cried a small brunette, who was running up to the two, waving the papers in his hands frantically. He looked disheveled and breathless as he stood before them, not that either cared, they were too busy with their glaring contest.

"I will not blink," Tyson stated determinedly.

"I have never lost a glaring contest," Kai responded.

The brunette sighed in disappointment. "Why does this always happen to me?" He shoved a pen into one of Kai's hands and placed the papers out in front of Kai. "Okay, just fill out the forms here. The first question asks…"

And that is how Kai filled out the forms for being a grim reaper. The brunette would read off the question, and Kai would write down his answer without breaking his eye contact with Tyson.

"… and signature here."

Kai signed his name. So far his glaring contest with Tyson had lasted for fifteen minutes. It never did occur to Kai that Tyson was already dead, so he wouldn't have to blink.

Kai's eyes were starting sting, and he was cursing at his possible lost. He hadn't been lying about never losing a glaring contest, and he did not want his first loss to be to this idiot.

"Okay, so I'll send the forms in for you Kai Hiwatari, and if everything works out you'll be a grim reaper when you die, by the way my name is Kenny, I am one of the people that work in the office."

Kai didn't say anything.

Kenny sighed again. He was so tired of taking time out his busy schedule to help people fill out their work forms. He had even run down here to help Kai and Tyson, but they were both being stubborn jerks.

"Kami, damn you both," he mumbled as he stomped off.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.

The End

Wait! What? That can't be the end! Who won the staring contest? It sounded like Tyson had the upper hand, but Kai is so stubborn he might just win!

Thank you to everyone who read this fanfic. Now excuse while I go beat myself up! I want to know who won, and I will find out by any means necessary! (glares at reflection in mirror) Any means…


End file.
